The concerned madam of a Paris brothel raced down the corridor when she heard one of her girls crying, "No, Monsieur! No! Anything but that!" She threw open the bedroom door only to find a true outrage--a Russian client attempting to pay in rubles. That well-worn Russian joke may soon stop making the rounds here.

After nearly six months of relative calm under Prime Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov, the Russian government appears headed for renewed turmoil as tension between the Kremlin and key ministers mounts and top officials hint at a Cabinet shake-up. With President Boris N. Yeltsin frequently in the hospital and detached from day-to-day administration of the government, the economy has steadily deteriorated, and the ruble is now hovering at an all-time low of more than 23 to the dollar.

The Russian government, under fire at home for devaluing its troubled currency, delayed announcing terms for repaying its ruble debt after the world financial community raised concerns that the plan would discriminate against foreign creditors. Meanwhile, the slide in Russia's currency slowed somewhat since President Boris N.

ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., the biggest drug maker in Eastern Europe, said it will suspend production at its five Russian plants for 20 days beginning on Christmas Day because the slumping Russian ruble has slashed consumers' purchasing power. "Our warehouses are filled with medicine that can't be sold," said company spokesman Sergei Korol. "Consumer spending has dropped and the distribution system has collapsed."

The ailing ruble, still the butt of unkind jokes two years after the collapse of communism, suffered another jolt Saturday when Russia's Central Bank abruptly announced that all ruble bills issued before 1993 will not be honored as of Monday. Russian citizens have two weeks to exchange up to 35,000 of their old rubles (about $35) for 1993 ruble bills.

President Boris N. Yeltsin, declaring that Russia's era of inflation has come to an end, announced Monday that his government will issue new currency that lops three zeros off the hyper-inflated ruble. Beginning in January, each new ruble will be worth 1,000 of today's rubles--symbolizing a break in the six-year period of high inflation that has left Russians paying thousands of rubles just to buy a loaf of bread. "We declare today that there will be no more inflation," Yeltsin said.

The lower house of Parliament completed a five-month exercise in voodoo economics Friday by adopting a 248-trillion-ruble Russian budget that was drawn up when Russia's currency was worth almost twice what it is today. Unrealistic as it is, passage of the tight, anti-inflationary spending plan for 1995 removed a major obstacle to a $6.3-billion credit from the International Monetary Fund to help Russia bridge a budget deficit and stay on good terms with other Western lenders.

With no immediate help to offer, President Clinton ended his summit in Moscow on Wednesday with promises of strong support for Russia's collapsing economy--but only if this nation's leaders take the herculean steps necessary to put reforms back on track.

A chorus of international financial experts urged a lowering of U.S. and European interest rates Wednesday to help Russia navigate its rapidly worsening crisis and advocated an assortment of remedies, such as letting Russians spend the American dollars they have stashed in their mattresses. But as the ruble went into free fall and the Russian economy neared collapse, it was clear that any fix for Russia has to go far beyond propping up the currency.

ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Costa Mesa likely will take a financial hit from the devaluation of the Russian ruble. Before the currency's tumble this week, analysts were expecting the Costa Mesa drug maker's rapidly growing business in Russia to produce about $200 million in revenue and $10 million in profits this year. That represents about 26% of the company's overall revenue last year and about 9% of profits.

ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., the biggest drug maker in Eastern Europe, said it will suspend production at its five Russian plants for 20 days beginning Christmas Day, because the slumping Russian ruble has slashed consumers' purchasing power. "Our warehouses are filled with medicine that can't be sold," said company spokesman Sergei Korol. The ruble has tumbled 69% since August, and Korol said distributors owe ICN $34 million for previous supplies.

After seven weeks of intense speculation and debate, Russia's new prime minister unveiled a vague and contradictory economic crisis plan Saturday that amounts to a tactical retreat from market reforms. Prime Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov said he will try to pull Russia's economy out of its nose dive with measures including some price controls, state support for industry and increased regulation of financial flows. But he insisted that his country will not revert to a Soviet-style economy.

A day after issuing a rough draft of its economic rescue plan, Russia's untested government was thrown into disarray Friday when the man in charge of renegotiating billions of dollars in debt with the West suddenly quit. Alexander N. Shokhin, a deputy prime minister, said he was resigning to protest the reappointment of the finance minister who was in place six weeks ago, when decisions by the previous government threw Russia's banking system and economy into chaos.

Russia's new government announced a grab bag of fix-it measures Thursday for its broken-down economy, including a revival of the state monopoly on vodka and other spirits, a money-spinning scheme as old as the czars. Prime Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov, speaking at the first meeting of the Cabinet, endeavored to reassure a population shellshocked by a free-falling currency that his government will keep its interests close to heart.

The ruble shed 38% of its value in a renewed downward slide Wednesday amid fears that Russia's new government plans to print money--and probably provoke still-higher inflation--in an attempt to get out of economic crisis. But President Boris N. Yeltsin told German Chancellor Helmut Kohl by phone that Russia, in crisis since a de facto devaluation of the currency in mid-August, is now "normalizing."

Russia's new government proposed printing money to pay wages that are overdue, but no decision on increasing the money supply will be made until the Central Bank's new board of directors is in place, Chairman Viktor V. Gerashchenko said. The board is scheduled for a confirmation vote in parliament today. Meanwhile, the head of the centrist Our Home Is Russia party, Alexander N. Shokhin, was named deputy prime minister in charge of financial issues.

ICN Pharmaceuticals Inc., the biggest drug maker in Eastern Europe, said it will suspend production at its five Russian plants for 20 days beginning on Christmas Day because the slumping Russian ruble has slashed consumers' purchasing power. "Our warehouses are filled with medicine that can't be sold," said company spokesman Sergei Korol. "Consumer spending has dropped and the distribution system has collapsed."

After seven weeks of intense speculation and debate, Russia's new prime minister unveiled a vague and contradictory economic crisis plan Saturday that amounts to a tactical retreat from market reforms. Prime Minister Yevgeny M. Primakov said he will try to pull Russia's economy out of its nose dive with measures including some price controls, state support for industry and increased regulation of financial flows. But he insisted that his country will not revert to a Soviet-style economy.

With no immediate help to offer, President Clinton ended his summit in Moscow on Wednesday with promises of strong support for Russia's collapsing economy--but only if this nation's leaders take the herculean steps necessary to put reforms back on track.